


A close miss

by Marmelade



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bruce is soft and precious, Gen, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt/Comfort, Ice, Loki (Marvel) Gets a Hug, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Serious Injuries, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Thor: Ragnarok (2017), booze, plant based life forms, this started as an english practice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-10-25 17:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17729837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marmelade/pseuds/Marmelade
Summary: My take on Loki summoning Sutur. And finding a certain blue cube and what happens afterwards.Or: Lokis and the Tesseracts relationship is complicated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English isn't my first language! So if you find any weird wording or faults, please let me know, so I can change them and improve! I wrote this for practice.
> 
> If people like this, I will write another chapter. I enjoyed writing it.

Only the sound of his steps echoed through the vault and it seemed like the screams and noises of a war fought on the rainbow bridge didn't exist. He was running and looking for the trophy Thor had brought home after his last adventure. It was a crazy idea. Dangerous. Risky. Just how he liked it. Thor had learned. 

Start the end of Asgard, make it go up in flames and destroy it for good, hopefully together with Hela. What a great dramatic ending for everything. A good last chapter for this story. Oh, the Norns would love this.

 

How he would escape before going to Hel (ha!) with his sister, he wasn't sure about that yet, but he would find a way out. He was Loki, he always found a way. And if not… _did it really matter_? 

 

Loki managed to find the crown he was looking for. That big rusty ugly thing. Now that he thought about it... putting it near something like Odins eternal flame wasn't the most intelligent choice someone could have made. But in this case it was suprisingly helpful. Almost like this had been the plan all along. Destiny was a weird thing.

 

He grabbed the trophy by its horns and marched to the flames that had shared their light and warmth for multiple thousands of years. The flames that Hela had used to wake up an army of undead. He felt bad for the soldiers that were awaken from their rightful peace.  _ Don't get distracted. _

 

First he felt it. Cold but friendly energy reaching for him. Then he saw it. The small blue glowing cube. The magic pulsing from it making his body shiver with excitement. Excitement he tried to stop and yet instead he stopped his walking to look at it. Memories that made his stomach twist. If fear was the source or a weird desire, he didn't know. Maybe both. His seidr seemed to pulse in the beat to the magic that surrounded the Tesseract. Old acquaintances meeting again after all this time and chatting.

 

He had forgotten about it. Should he leave it here? His mind wandered to Thanos and his stomach turned into something like a crumpled piece of paper.

 

_ Better leave it, he thought. Better not let that mad Titan get his hands on this. If we are lucky, it will be destroyed with Asgard. _ He swallowed.  _ Don't disappoint Thor. Anything else does not matter. _

 

He hesitated for another moment and then he forced himself to walk fast towards the fire leaving the powerful item behind. Almost careful he set the crown into the flames. Than he let the magic from the fire into the crown and spoke in a soft voice, almost like whisper into the ear of a loved one in the morning: „With the eternal flame...You are reborn!“

 

It happened to fast. Everything went red and hot and pain surrounded him, as the flames grew to the ceiling, a loud, deep roar ringing in his ears. He hadn't expected this to take at least some minutes to react. He couldn't think, he couldn't see, he couldn't even breath, when his lungs filled with burning smoke. Flames grabbing his skin and burning his leathers. Moving was pain, breathing was pain, existing was pain. But he could also feel something else pulling at him, calling him, a cold clear voice reaching through the overwhelming hot chaos surrounding him.

 

His mind went numb, only focusing on the directions his seidr pulled him following the thing that almost screamed directions at him and his feet moved on it's own. Parts of the ceiling rained down, the floor was shaking, well, HE was shaking, too and yet he knew where to go. Before he really realised it, his hands were wrapped around the Tesseract to use its power to teleport away from this hell and to the ship with the Asgardians.

 

It brought back more memories and thanks to these combined with the force of teleporting, the pain and injuries that covered him from head to toe, he didn't manage a landing as elegant as he would have liked. His side hit the floor hard, his elbow, too, he felt the cube slipping out of his fingers (and his mind), disappearing somewhere. Well, he at least guessed it was the floor he hit, he couldn't really tell, as all his senses were dancing and whirling around and his stomach protested again (traitor) and the last thing he could remember before sinking into the black that had started surrounding him like little clouds was throwing up on the feet of someone with a familiar voice.  

 

Well, at least he was alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That missing hug scene. I am still angry Marvel!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to continue this. Again: This is english practice, so I most likely will keep the chapters short. If you notice anything weird, please let me know, you're helping me a lot! Thanks! Enjoy...!
> 
> \- Edit: Sorry, I just uploaded this and already noticed several faults I didn't before, after reading over this for like 1000 times before uploading. I will change them.

The darkness was pressing down on him, hurting, suffocating and it reminded him of the void. Although this darkness didn't feel like tearing him apart. No, it felt more like being carried by someone. His head was leaning on somet- on a shoulder. He could feel movement, clumsy heavy steps ever going forward.

 

Loki tried to open his eyes but they refused to listen to his commands. So he forced himself to speak instead. His tongue had always been most loyal to him.

 

„Thor?“, he managed to ask. His mouth, his throat, even his voice hurt, _how could his voice hurt_?

 

“No”, the answer rumbled through him, carried by a deep voice. “Puny god wrong! Not Thor! Strongest Avenger!” The last words couldn’t hide a proud undertone, that almost made him chuckle, until his brain connected the points and recognized the voice and speech pattern. His heart stopped.

 

Within a second Loki was able to open his eyes. He pushed himself out of the arms of the green giant and hit the floor (again). Regret filled him. And pain. Mostly pain. Which was actually the reason for his regret.

 

His eyes locked onto the (surprised? irritated?) face of the green monster as he tried to get away from that creature as fast as possible. Which proved to be more difficult than expected. Every movement reminded him of his injuries. His knees were shaking, but somehow he managed the impossible task to pull himself onto his feet (while leaning on a wall) … since when had standing up become so difficult?

 

The beast watched Loki struggling not to slip down to the floor again for another second. Then the Hulk decided to speak up.

 

“God hurt!”, he grumbled and stepped forward reaching for Loki.

 

_And I won't let you hurt me even more!_

 

A dagger appeared in the hand Loki didn't need for steadying himself. He hid the trembling behind an image. In his current state he couldn't manage a bigger illusion than a steady hand - in contrast to the rest of his appearance that seemed to crumble into itself any moment.

 

“Get away, I won't let a creature like you touch me again!”, he barely managed to keep the strain out of his voice.

 

Yes, they had fought side by side… didn't mean he trusted him.

 

The Hulk huffed. Just huffed. _How dare he just looking annoyed like that?_

 

He shook his head and stepped towards Loki once more his giant hand reaching out for him.

 

“Puny god hurt. Thor sad when puny god hurt.”

 

 _No no no no no!_ Loki felt his heart trying to beat a way out of his ribcage, when all he could do was pressing his back onto the wall. There was no way he could escape. Every inch the Hulk moved his heart sped up. He had a dagger, but honestly what could he really do to fight the HULK right now?

 

And then he felt it again, a similar sensation to what had happened in the vault. The familiar cold energy reached out to him and sparked through his veins, but not a scream - a whisper. A tiny drop and just enough for him to disappear in an instance, leaving behind a fading blue glow and a confused and slightly angered Hulk.

 

. . .

 

He poured himself some of the alcohol from the fancy bottles the Valkyrie had given to him (she had found them on the ship) into a glas. Whatever it was, he hoped it was strong enough for an asgardian. He needed some numbing after this disaster or else he wouldn't be able to sleep for days. Thor turned to look into the mirror with said glas in his hand, waving the liquid careful from one side to the other. His view focused on the eye patch and for a hurtful moment it was like standing in front of Odin. Mother always had said he looked a lot like his father.

 

But before memories could start to play through his mind he noticed another figure in the mirror and he secretly thanked Loki for appearing out of nowhere. Thor didn’t feel like thinking about everything he had lost right now and instead wanted to focus on what he still had left (and even gained) and his brother was on of these things.

 

Thor turned around to face him. He noticed a small flicker over Lokis form, but wasn’t sure, maybe his eyes - his one eye - wasn’t used on the new ... situation yet.

 

“It suits you”, said Loki with a small but genuine smile dancing on his lips. _And this expression suits you so much,_ Thor thought.

 

“Maybe you’re not so bad after all, brother!”, he said instead and placed his glas on the dressing table, smirking.

 

Then he noticed Loki hesitating. And flickering again. So he hadn’t imagined it earlier. An illusion. Like always. Of course.

 

“Maybe not”, Loki murmered.

 

The soft voice of his brother filled his stomach with fire. The smile that seemed real made said flame burn even stronger. Just another image. Another trick. _Will you ever not fall for this, brother?_ He remembered.The heat slowly creeped up into his face. And yet Loki wasn’t the only one who could put on a mask.

 

“Thank you”, Thor said, turned away from his brother and took the lid of the drink in an attempt to ground himself. It didn’t help. The disappointment was to big.  “If you were here, I’d even give you a hug!”, he said and threw the lid at the image of his brother.

 

Loki caught it. The smile didn’t leave his face but grew even bigger. He had caught it. “I’m here”, he said. He had actually caught the lid. The lid was in his hand. Thors mind froze for several seconds and just stared at Loki. WHO HAD CAUGHT THE LID HE HAD THROWN AT HIM.

 

In a moment he had crossed the room and closed the distance between them, putting his arms around the smaller figure and pulling him into a bear hug. He could feel his heart jump and his eyes - his one eye - sting, when tears started to run down one half of his face.

 

After everything he had lost recently at least his brother was with him. Who he had thought lost for years now. But he was here. He wasn’t alone. Of course he hadn’t believed the words Thor had told him in the elevator, right? You couldn’t lie to the god of lies.

 

Loki had hidden his face on Thors breast and now he felt the younger one also slowly putting his arms around him. His brother trembled and Thor was sure he heard something like a sob that the trickster had failed to hide. He decided to hold him even closer, ignoring the shaking of the other.

 

“It’s okay, Loki, we’re -”, Thor stopped himself, when he noticed the arms of his brother losing their grip again and Lokis weight shifting to lean completely on the older one.

 

“Loki, are you…?” He had to catch the too warm (Loki was never warm?) figure to stop him from hitting the floor. His form shifted in his arms and revealed instead of the smooth white skin and noble looking leathers of his brother multiple burnes that had spread over him like a parasyte. So, there HAD been an illusion, but a different kind from what he had expected.

 

“You idiot”, he grumbled when he lifted Lokis unconsciousness body up and put him careful onto his bed. He froze for a second but when he noticed the shallow breaths that barely moved his brothers chest he left his room in a hurry a called for a healer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on "No more ressurections"
> 
> Also a hint of shipping?

"You didn't seriously believe your little charade as Allfather would keep you from your punishment?” The voice echoed through the space he was drifting in.

 

“Well, it's been a while since I have seen that excuse of a face you were burdened to wear…”, Loki answered. “So why don't show yourself instead of hiding in the dark?”

 

The space around him changed, took form, blue crystals grew around him and instead of drifting through nothing his feet softly landed on a surface.

 

Still. He was alone with the stars winking mockingly at him from the void.

 

“Why, oh why should I when my voice alone is enough to make you shiver? You don't think I wouldn't notice you trying to hide that weak emotion of yours?” He couldn't pinpoint the location it came from. The weird unnatural reverb made it sound like the speaker was everywhere at once.

 

“I don't know, at least The Other was decent enough to talk to me face to face. What happened to him anyways? Did he get a promotion and your _His_ messenger now instead? Such a degradation must have hurt!”, although the mocking tone in his voice grew with every word he couldn't suppress the shaking of his hands. He summoned a black feather quill to move between his fingers. Grounding him. He could have used a dagger, but that would have felt like admitting defeat.

 

“It's none of your business”, the voice rasped suddenly directly behind him. Loki could feel a breath on his neck and a cold shower creeping down his spine.

 

He had to use all his strength not to turn around. _Don't give him that victory._

 

The feather danced through his fingers faster.

 

“So, are you just here to say hello or do you have anything important to-” the sentence stuck in his throat as he could feel magic energy wrapping around it like cold hands.

 

And finally the dark figure of Ebony formed itself out of dirt (how fitting) in front of him.

 

“I am here to remind you that you won't be spared. Your little stunt on Svartalfheim was impressive but know that Thanos couldn't have let you die just there. The right to take your life is his after all. Asgard's magic might have protected you for a while but her shield is broken…”

 

Ebony moved slowly around Loki still hold in place by the invisible hands wrapped around his throat, constantly adding more and more force. He tried not to struggle and not to look effected. Easier said than done when you feel running low on air. The feather had fallen from his hands.

 

Other voices disrupted the silence.

 

“-he choking? Wh-”

“I don't kn-”

“- something! Fast!”

 

Fragments of words and other voices resonated through the space not unlike Ebonys before. Said magician didn't seem bothered at all.

 

Lokis sight grew blurry. Blue crystals mixed with the dark sky and sparkling stars into an undefined mass.

 

He couldn't make out Ebonys form anymore but he felt his breath on the ear as his voice whispered: “There's no escape. Not even in death. He will resurrect you again if it's necessary. You haven’t just lost your right to life, you have have lost your birthright as well…”

 

 _Your birthright was to die,_ echoed through his mind before thousand of needles pierced through his skin and everything went from blurry to black to white.

 

\---

 

Thor hurried through the corridors of this damned spaceship. It was completely different from any of the Asgardian ships he had known. The layout was confusing and unnecessary complicated. Somewhat fitting for the former owner, though, that he couldn't deny.

 

A weight felt from his heart when he run into a slightly confused looking Bruce. He was wrapped in a coat another Asgardian must have given to him.

 

“Thor. Thor! I was… I was looking for you!”

 

“I was looking for you, too, friend!” Thor answered. Okay, maybe this wasn't completely honest since he was looking for _anyone_ who could help his brother.

 

“Where… where is Loki?”, asked Bruce.

 

Now, Thor often was accused of being oblivious but he was quite good at reading people most of the time. His brother might be better at it but that didn't mean he was bad.

 

And the fact that Bruce voice was clearly dripping with worry made it impossible for _anyone_ to miss.

 

“He's in my room, unconscious, please, can you help him?” Thor asked as he grasped the other man by his shoulders.

 

“That's why the big guy and me changed places…”, Bruce answered.

 

\---

 

After Bruce had taken care of the burnings and Loki was sleeping peacefully Thor felt his body release a tension he didn't notice he was holding before. He felt a hand on shoulder.

 

“He's going to be fine. He needs rest. And we need to clean his wounds regularly to prevent infection. You guys have something like antibiotics, right?”, Bruce calm voice had an almost tranquilizing effect on him.

 

“Of course. The healers will help with that. Although…” Thor turned around to face Bruce.

 

“Is there a problem?”

 

Thor sighed. “I'd prefer you to treat him over the other healers. Loki never had a good relationship with them…”

 

A soft smile grew on Bruce's face. “Of course, Thor. _” What a nice picture,_ Thor thought.

 

“He helped us, he is a friend now. The big guy took a liking in him, too!”

 

“Thank you so much!” Thor pulled the shorter man into a hug, a more careful one than he had shared with Loki earlier. He could almost hear his brother mocking him for his physical nature.

 

“It's okay, I am glad you helped me leave that planet…” Bruce didn't seem to be bothered by the contact.

 

Still Thor let go of him. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. The coat Bruce was wearing was way too long for him. “Shall we look for some more fitting clothes? I have seen some wardrobes aro-”

 

He stopped as Loki started murmuring things in his sleep.

 

“Does he do that often?”, Bruce asked.

“All the time ever since we were children”, Thor answered and thought back to the days, when his brother would slip into his bed late at night, because he couldn't sleep.

 

“Sometimes he even started reciting his spells, one night he would set my bed on f-”, he was interrupted again, as Loki suddenly spasmed and sounded like suffocating.

 

“Is he - Is he choking? Why is he choking?” Thor panicked.

 

“I don't know, there isn't a reason why he would choke!”, Bruce was panicking, too. And a little to green for Thor's liking. He still examined the dark haired prince but he couldn't find anything blocking his airways.

 

“Do something! Fast!” Thor shouted when Loki was slowly changing colour.

 

“I- I can't, he shouldn't be- I'm sorry, Thor- I-”, Bruce rambled.

 

Suddenly a scream erupted from Loki's mouth and he sat up on Thor's bed, breathing heavily as if to catch every last bit of oxygen in the room. But he was breathing at least.

 

He looked dazed, his hands quickly searching on his body for something, seeming not to find anything and then letting out a long breath before falling back into the big pillow Thor had placed his head on.

 

“Loki!”, Thor was at his side. “Are you okay?”

 

_Stupid question._

 

“I- I don't know”, his brother answered and looked at him. He still was out of breath like he had just won a race against a pack of rabid wolves.

 

“What happened?”, Thor asked.

 

“I-”, Loki started. His eyes unfocused and he looked somewhere else searching for words like they might appear on the walls of the room. “I don't want to talk about it.”

 

He noticed Thor's angry glare. “At least not now, please, let me calm down first.”, Loki added quickly.

 

Thor nodded.

 

“Did you take care of me? I don't remember you being good at bandaging people up…”, Loki asked examining the gazes on his body. Another question hung in the air. He could tell Loki would like to avoid it.

 

“No, I had help. And yes, I saw the scars. We will speak about that later, too”, Thor added.

 

“Oh, great…”, Loki sighed. “Wait, who helped you?”

 

Bruce who had hidden behind Thor stepped forward. “Eh, hello!”

 

Loki looked at the doctor with face that reminded Thor of a rabbit facing the pack of wolves mentioned earlier. He noticed the hands of his brother starting to shake and holding one in the other as if they were cold to hide it.

 

“It's okay, I am - no one is going to hurt you!”, Bruce said.

 

Loki swallowed. Nodded.

“Thank you for your help…”, he murmured and bowed his head.

 

“Oh, no problem”, Bruce answered awkwardly.

 

A weird tension and silence filled the room and no one seemed to be able to speak for a while. Thor started rubbing his neck uncomfortably, Loki seemed like he wanted make a knot into his fingers and Bruce was fidgeting with his too big clothes.

 

“That coat is pretty, but it doesn't really fit you”, Loki said.

 

“Oh, yes, Bruce, let's look for something more fitting…!”, Thor was suddenly super enthusiastic and shoved the other man towards the wardrobe mentioned earlier.

 

“And you should try to get some more sleep, Loki!”, he added while turning to his brother.

 

“And letting you put my saviour into a fashion disaster? No way!”, Loki retorted. He heard Bruce laugh.

 

They definitely had to talk about many things. But not now. There was enough time.

 

Loki ignored the slight pull of cold energy that reached for him somewhere on the ship. It felt neglected and angry.

 

(TBC)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer because life doesn't go like planned most of the time. If you find faults or tuffy please tell me, so I can improve my English! Thanks! Next update will.be avaibke in 1-2 weeks.
> 
> Edit: of course I missed some faults again, because I touched the post button too early. I changed some small things. Sorry!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some talking! A more calm chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me longer than I'd meant to. It didn't really flow well while writing, it felt more like a chewed bubble gum, if that makes sense? I hope it doesn't feel like that while reading for you! This wasn't planned as a longer fic so I kinda am a little clueless where to go with this story, that made it hard for me to write. But I have some ideas now and try to knit a plot!
> 
> If you find any weird phrasing or faults/errors, please tell me and help me improve my english!

“Oh, come on, this can't be all the booze…” The Valkyrie was searching through the provisions of the ship.

 

Currently she was almost crawling into some sort of storage, pulling out boxes. The ones that weren't empty were full of dust. Next to her a bunch of bottles stood filled with different vivid coloured fluids. Some of them were slightly glowing, others moving on their own although no one was shaking them. And if you looked closely you could even see a weird creature swimming in one of them. But, trust me, you wouldn’t want to get too close to that one...

 

“Damn, food is rare, too… “, she sighed. “I guess we have to stop somewhere soon.”

 

She got up, brushed off some dirt from her clothes and grabbed a bottle filled with a fluid that sparkled in an unnatural violet colour before she rushed out of the room to find Thor.

 

\---

 

“Ugh, this is so much better”, Bruce smiled when he stretched and then looked down onto the clothes he was wearing now. The coat a friendly Aesir had given to him after he had changed back from the Hulk had been nice, yes, but far too big and it always felt like it could have slipped from his shoulders (and leave him naked) at any given chance. He silently thanked god ( _wait, did that mean Thor or Loki…?_ ) that didn’t happen.

 

Now he was wearing a comfortable wide fitting tunic shirt in the Grandmasters favorite blue with some shimmering golden ornaments on the seems, simple pants in a darker shade of the cool colour and a light pair of shoes without ties. Usually not his first choice but the best they could find in the wardrobe of Thor’s room.

 

The clothes reminded Loki of the face (and body) paint the Grandmaster loved so much. He remembered a particular party he had attended on Sakaar and the electric blue lines that had decorated his body after that night in a similar manner the curly ornaments danced over Bruce's new clothes. He wasn't sure whether he liked that memory or not. But he knew he was glad Thor hadn't seen him this way.

 

“Also I don't look like Tony anymore”, Bruce added with a smirk and Thor let out a small chuckle at that.

 

Loki didn't understand their joke but he did see the way Thor’s eyes - Thor’s one eye - was fixed on the smaller man.

 

 _Oh, something to tease him with!_ Loki knew it was childish, but he still was in fact the younger sibling here and had some kind of reputation to uphold. He couldn't help the grin that spread on his face. But first he needed to do something else...

 

“Yes, actually I think the clothes suit you a lot”, said Loki. Bruce looked at where the trickster said on Thor’s bed, unsure what to make with those words. A smile wasn’t able to manifest on the scientists face.

 

“They won't fit the bigger guy, though and we don't have many spare clothes”, Loki added.

 

“Yeah, I've figured that”, Bruce answered and awkwardly put his hand on his neck. “I’ll... - **We** should be careful not to trigger a code green! “

 

Thor looked like he wanted to say something but didn't quite know what and so Loki was faster to continue the conversation.

 

“I might be able to help out with that, if you would let me of course!”, he said, his voice low and soft.

 

“Eh, how…? “, asked Bruce uncertain. He might have helped the trickster but it was clear he didn't trust him.

 

_At least he's smart._

 

“I could weave a simple spell into your clothes, that would make them change with your body… “, Loki explained.

 

Thor looked at Loki with a mixture of surprise and mistrust. That hadn't changed then or so it seemed. Loki knew which memory was probably playing in the thunder gods head. The day he had weaved a spell into Fandral’s clothes, making them a little less opaque the more he flirted with someone. Oh, that had been an amusing party... 

 

“No tricks, Loki”, warned Thor when he noticed Loki’s grin.

 

“Come on, Thor, why would I play a trick on the one person that helped you with this? “ Loki gestured at the bandages. “I have some sense for self-preservation left. “

 

Bruce still looked unsure. Loki couldn't blame him.

 

“Seriously, I just… “, the younger god atcually searched for words. “I just don't want to be in your _debt_ , see it as a way to say thank you? To pay you back?”

 

He was being honest. It irked him to be not on equal footing with someone (at least when he wasn't the one with an advantage). Also, if Bruce liked him, maybe he didn't have to fear the Hulk as much. He was acting out of selfishness nothing else. This felt awkward. His face felt awkward. Norns, he was probably blushing. Why had he made the suggestion in the first place?

 

“I… I will consider it… “, Bruce answered after a moment of silence.

 

“Oh, don't worry, you don't need to make a decision right now “, Thor answered for Loki with bright smile.

 

“Of course, I need to recover my seidr first before attempting such a spell anyways… I also understand that you… are wary, Bruce”, Loki added the name of the scientist hoping it would make him sound more sincere. Ever since he had been able to lie people assumed he was always lying. 

 

This time a soft smile grew on Bruce’s face. He nodded. “Thanks for the offer, Loki.”

 

“Talking about recovery… I don't think you will sleep anytime soon, brother?”, the thunder god suddenly turned towards his sibling.

 

Loki thought back to his last “dream” and a cold feeling crept down his spine making him shudder and the hair on his neck stand up. At the same time the exhaustion had a harsh grip on his body and mind.

 

“I’d rather not, why do you ask?”, he tried to sound as oblivious as possible. He knew Thor was looking for a chance to talk to Loki about topics the trickster would rather avoid.

 

Bruce seemed to notice the need for a private talk.

“I will talk to the healers… Maybe they need help… And I will get some antibiotics for you!”

With these words he left the room to the brothers.

 

Thor and Loki looked at each other no one daring to start the conversation both dreaded. Loki, who had been sitting upright so far on the bed let himself fall back into the pillow and huffed.

 

“Just ask what you wanna know and let's get over with this, if you become any more nervous there will electric sparks flying through the air, brother…”, Loki mumbled.

 

Thor chuckled. He sat down next to his brother.

 

“I don't know where to start… There is a lot I want to ask you.”

 

Thor turned his face to Loki the smile on his lips not reaching his eyes anymore. The younger one just shrugged.

 

“Let's start with that dream you had… Was it a dream? I really thought you were suffocating there in front of me, Loki!”

 

The trickster had started fidgeting with his fingers again, intertwining and holding onto each other. He could almost feel the worry radiating from Thor.

 

“We have to go back a little further back for me to truthfully answer this question”, he said his voice suddenly sounding very tired. “But, yes, it was a dream although not a normal one. I… I had a visitor.”

 

Loki took a deep breath. But before he could continue the door to the room swung open and hit the wall with a loud bang, almost making him jump.

 

“Thor! Lackey! Hey, I am glad to see you're fine, well, fine enough. Kinda thought Sutur had turned you into a pile of ash.”

 

The Valkyrie looked at them both with a wide smile on her face. Loki noticed the bottle in her hand.

 

“And you found the alcohol on the ship I see…”, he said with a grin.

 

“Yeah”, she said holding up the bottle and shaking it. Which caused the sparkling of the liquid to increase. “But I also found the food or rather the lack of it and let’s just say, it doesn't look good. We can maybe go two days then we will need restock.”

 

“Can we stop and buy more somewhere soon?”, Thor asked.

 

“Well, no one on here really had money. All the people fled with what they were wearing and carrying with them at the time Hela arrived…”, Loki explained.

 

“We should discuss this with the survivors”, the Valkyrie said. After a small moment of silence she added: “Right now would be the best time.”

 

Thor looked at Loki than nodded. “I think you're right, will yo-”

 

“Brother, by the norns, I won't die, just go and take care of your people like the king you are now. I will try to get some sleep”, Loki said.

 

Thor nodded and put his hand on Loki’s neck. “A good idea”, he said smiling. Then he turned to the Valkyrie.

“Go ahead, I will follow in a minute!”

 

“Okay!”, she said but before leaving she turned to Loki again. “Also, Lackey, I meant it, you might be a pain in the ass, but I am glad you're fine…!” Then she left the brothers alone again just like Bruce had done before.

 

“Loki,” Thor started “I know you probably don't want to talk with me about certain topics,  but when we want to make this work, we need to.”

 

The trickster let out a breath and his shoulders slumped. “I know, I know, Thor! We will talk after things have settled down and the food situation is solved, okay?” He smiled at his brother, it was only a little grin but a genuine one.

 

“And now, go and let me get some sleep, I am actually exhausted!”, he added and pulled a thick blanket over his head.

 

Thor laughed at that. “Rest well, brother!”, he said and left.

 

After a minute Loki looked out under his blanket, making sure Thor had actually left and then pushed said blanket away - _too hot!_ He slipped from the bed, walked over to the table and grabbed the bottle the Valkyrie had forgotten. After examining it, he shook it and watched the purple sparkles glowing up.

 

These kind of drinks had been quite popular among the high society of Sakaar, but sadly he had never had the chance to taste them himself. Loki usually preferred wine or champagne but he couldn’t deny he was curious, why these sparkling fluids had been so beloved. He opened the bottle and a little pink cloud emerged, he just blew it away.

 

Then he put the bottle to his lips and drank. It tasted very fruity, slightly sour and just really really good. There was no sharp taste of alcohol to remind him of the fact that this was not just some kind of juice. So he might have drank a little more than intended.

 

After putting down the now half empty bottle he slowly walking back to the bed. He let himself fall into the pillow and was asleep almost immediately.

 

After everything that happened no one would blame him for getting a little help with falling asleep, right?

 

\---

 

Somewhere else on the ship a blue glow attracted the attention of a child. His huge eyes were fixed on the cube. He slowly moved towards it but before he could touch it, the glow brightned enough to force the boy to close his eyes. When he opened them again, the fascinating thing had disappeared.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter about plans and cold stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ! There might be Endgame Spoilers in the Comments! Be careful! The story is Spoiler free though!

**Chapter 5**

 

“We will able to arrive at another planet this evening…”, the deep calming voice of Heimdall rumbled through the room. It was weird using words like “evening” or “morning” in a place where they didn't exist. As natural and normal the flow of time was as artificial were its measurements and all of them were suddenly made aware of this quite uncomfortable fact. 

 

“Thanks Heimdall”, Thor answered after a second. He sat at a table together with the Guard, Valkyrie (Brunnhilde she had offered to call her), Bruce and two Asgardian people chosen by the other refugees as their representatives. Oh and Korg of course was there, too. This was their makeshift council. There were discussing the bad food situation.

 

“Which planet is it? Do we know anything about it?”, the thunder god asked. 

 

“It's named Vucury. A small planet which a rich variety of plant based lifeforms”, Brunnhilde explained. 

 

“So, are there only… Plants or…?”, asked the female Asgardian representative. Her name was Helga if Thor remembered right. She was a large and big build woman with an even bigger family, her light brown hair fell down on her shoulders in a braid and her green eyes almost shined as bright as Lokis. Freckles were spread on her olive skin. Her smile radiated warmth.

 

“No, from what I've heard there are people living there, just… They are plants, too. Similar to Groots, you know these walking trees? I never visited them, can’t confirm anything…”, the Valkyrie said. 

 

“Plant people? Woah, that's crazy”, Korg said. “Oh, not like  _ bad _ crazy, though, more like, cool crazy, I never met any plant people - plaple? - and I just think that's cool, no racism here, friends…!”, he added while gesturing with his hand and some small pebbles fell to the ground. 

 

“How did I never hear about them? Their planet seems to be nearby Asgard… Or where Asgard was.”, the male representative asked. Thor thought his name was Finn. Maybe. He was small from stature, his hair was a dark brown and his eyes seemed to be even darker, which made his rather light skin seem pale. But his eyes sparkled with curiosity and the want to learn.

 

“Vucury’s journey through the branches of Yggdrasil is long, Finley, much longer than the ones of other planets. It is only positioned near Asgard for two weeks once in over 2000 years. The last time this happened you weren't even born”, Heimdall explained. “We are lucky”, he added. 

 

“So… What are we supposed to buy there?”, asked Helga.”It is not like we are overflowing with money, but we still will need enough food for the people to… Where did you wanted to go, my king?”

 

“Midgard”, Thor answered. “I am sure the citizens of Earth will grant us asylum. Also their culture and way of live is similar to our own. I think it is the right place for us stay and rebuild.”

 

Bruce's mumbled something that Thor didn't understand and suddenly he felt bad, because he had forgotten his friend even was here. The doctor had been so quiet he didn't notice him at all. 

 

When Bruce realised he had Thor's eyes on him he said after clearing his throat: “I just said, I hope you're right.”

 

“Anyways, I had an idea on how we can get more provisions for less money…”, Finley said. “We could grow some plants on here, too. We found boxes that could be filled with earth so we could grow things in.”

 

Thor smiled. He loved this idea and he also loved gardening, which wasn’t a much known fact about him. When he was young he had helped Frigga in her garden after his training a lot and he was really good with plants. It was almost a secret talent. “I think that is a great thought, if we can ration the water enough for it to work, that would be a great idea!”, he said excited.

 

“We should choose plants that don’t need much water”, mumbled Bruce. 

 

“Oh, really cool. I just have a question, Thor, can’t you just like - er - make it rain inside of this ship? Like, using your powers? God of thunder, you know?”, asked Korg.

 

“I don’t think it would be a good idea. I would also need water in a certain area to actually make it rain…”, he explained.

 

“So on a planet it works just fine, because of the water in the atmosphere but inside of this ship I think he would do more damage than good”, Bruce added. “Sorry…”

 

“No, no, thanks for explaining things further”, Thor said with a smile. “I wouldn’t want to start a storm inside either.”

 

“What about Loki?”, asked Helga.

 

“What about him?”, Thor was confused.

 

“He is a frost giant and a - quite talented from what I know - magician”, she said. “If he can make ice with his magic, would it turn into water? Or would he just freeze the water on the ship?”

 

“That’s a good question, I’ll go and ask Lackey about it”, with that Brunnhilde got up from her place and left the room before anyone had the chance to stop her.

 

\- - -

 

This meeting had been terrible. She had felt trapped with the others and was glad to be able to leave the room. After the was closed behind her she had slowed down a little. She wasn’t actually in a hurry.

 

She even took an unnecessary long route to get to her destination. Talked to one of the survivors. Helped one that somehow had been tangled up in some wires...

 

Still, she arrived the door of Thor’s room fast enough. Too fast. She would have prefered a longer break. She sighed and put her hand on the opening panel next to the door and waited. And waited. And waited. But nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing.

 

Brunnhilde shrugged. Who knew how old this ship was? She would just open it manually. When she tried to pull the sliding door to the side it was stuck. Like something was holding it together. She pulled harder and harder until she almost fell over when the door finally opened with a loud crack. Tiny cold fragments hit her face.

 

There was a huge amount of purple glittering ice on the door frame. No, not just the door frame. The whole room seemed to have turned into a solid block of ice. Purple glittering ice. And somewhere inside she noticed an electric blue glow pulsing like a heartbeat.

 

Yeah, well, that didn’t look good. 

 

“Hey, Lackey, are you still in there?”, she asked while knocking on the massive ice. She watched as the glitter started swirling inside and concentrated where she had knocked. Suddenly spikes shoot out of the block and she dodged just fast enough not to get hurt.

 

“Hey, stop that nonsense!”, she shouted.

 

Now she recognized the purple sparkling tone. “He drunk the booze…”, she grumbled.

 

Okay, so maybe Loki was drunk but that wasn’t a reason for this to happen. It seemed like his magic was out of control. And although that drink (flerken berry juice mixed with sarkaarian vodka) was known to have a strong pushing effect, that shouldn’t be enough to overwhelm an experienced magician like the trickster seemed to be.

 

A weird energy pulsed from the ice and she noticed the cold blue light flickering inside again. Something was off. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

 

And she had to somehow tell Thor that his brother had frosted himself and the whole room, too.  _ And is about to turn the whole ship into a flying icicle _ , she thought, when she noticed that the ice was growing. 

 

“Ah, shit…”, she mumbled and walked back to the meeting room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- - -
> 
> ! SPOILER WARNING FOR THE COMMENTS! 
> 
> I just saw Endgame. I try not to spoil. Just let me say... it is different from what I expected and yet there was a lot of stuff that I was sure would happen.
> 
> Also, sorry for the delay. Life happened. I hope the next update will be sooner and longer! I had this one ready for a while but didn't want to post it alone, because it is short...


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Landings are hard?

“Thor, ah- are you sure you can land this ship?”, Bruce asked with a nervous smile on his face. 

 

“Oh, oh, of course I can… I can land this ship and it will be a soft landing. The softest you have ever seen”, the god answered. 

 

“I actually haven't experienced many spaceship landings, so…”, mumbled the scientist. 

 

“Don't worry!” Thor laughed, but it didn't sound sincere. He had flown a lot of different kinds of ships, but this kind was a little more than just “different” from what he was used to. And bigger. So much bigger. And filled with many more people. Living people that depended on him right now and he couldn't mess this up and how was he supposed to land this massive ship?  _ By the norns, I wish Loki was here.  _

 

He  _ could _ go and get his brother, but he was still injured and resting and also he didn't want to see that (shit eating, the midgardians called it) grin on Loki’s face when he basically admitted defeat. They were both rather experienced when it came to flying ships and it was one of the things that had fired up their constant rivalry as kids. And teens. And maybe still as adults. 

 

He remembered the flight with the sword like ships when he had freed Loki from the dungeons of Asgard on their way to save Jane and get revenge for their mother. The snarky comments of his brother and the pure bliss of satisfaction he had felt when he had pushed him out. He smiled when he thought about the shocked scream that had escaped Loki, he didn't want to think much about what happened after, though, it would just mess with his focus. 

 

_ I can do this!  _

 

Thor breathed out slowly and concentrated on bringing down the ship as careful as possible. He pushed the stick that was controlling the speed of the ship softly fo- 

 

The door to the piloting area slammed open with a loud bang and Thor pushed the stick all the way forward in shock. The ship changed speed and tilted in the same angle and manner in reaction to the harsh handling. The thunderer found himself halfway lying over the control panel, accidentally activating some other stuff and he wasn't even sure about what he was activating. 

 

Music started to play. Weird lights shined and flashed through the room. And he was sure some confetti flew through the air, too. Did he see blue tentacles? No, he didn't, no, haha, why would there be such things on this ship? 

 

“Thor, what the hell are you doing?”, he heard the Valkyrie shout and suddenly felt two strong hands on his shoulders that pushed him away from the control panel. 

 

She pushed some buttons, moved the control stick and tapped other things and Thor couldn't really follow but in the end the chaos stopped and the ship flew slowly towards the planet they wanted to land on. 

 

“By the Norns and Odin’s Eyepatch, I can't leave you alone for a moment, seriously… “, she mumbled. 

 

“Ah, I, err, I will leave… I will be back soon”, with that Bruce left the room, looking rather green, Thor wasn't sure if he was about to Hulk out or if he was feeling sick because of ships strong movements. 

 

The Valkyrie was still glancing angrily at him and Thor wondered if he should confront Brunnhilde since her sudden appearance was the reason he had lost control over the ship in the first place but he decided he was glad to give the responsibility of piloting to her. 

 

They stood there for some minutes, the Valkyrie again focused on managing the flight of the ship and Thor just watching her using the control panel, trying to memorize and learn as much as possible. 

 

“You know, staring like that is rude”, Brunnhilde mumbled when the silence grew to loud for her liking. 

 

“Oh, I was just trying to understand more of the mechanics of this kind of ship”, Thor answered. 

 

She huffed. “Why were you trying to land a ship you know nothing about by yourself anyway, even Lackey-”, she stopped when she remembered why she was here in the first place. 

 

“Shit, Lackey!”, she said. She spun around. “Thor, you need to come with me!” 

 

“Why? Right now? Can't we first-” 

“No, we can't, come on!”, she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room. Her pure strength never stopped to amaze him. 

 

They passed a confused Bruce in the hallway who was on his way back and looked a little less green by now. 

 

“Who is piloting the ship now?”, he asked. 

 

“You are!”, the Valkyrie said. 

 

“What? How am I supposed to that?”, Bruce asked, panic making his voice tremble. 

 

“Use one of your PhDs!”, Thor said. “That worked on Sakaar, too!” 

 

With that the two Asgardians disappeared around a corner and left behind a slightly overwhelmed Bruce Banner. 

 

\- - - 

 

Loki cursed. He shouldn't have drunk the damn liquor. It was supposed to help him sleep. Instead he felt sick. Which was weird because Loki usually never had trouble with alcohol, he could drink a lot before having it affect him. Especially to the point of feeling sick. 

 

But here he was. Lying on Thor’s bed while the room started to spin and spin and spin and… 

 

He carefully stretched a leg and tried to touch the ground. When he reached it, the dizziness faded a little for a moment and he sighed in relief.  _ See, I am not spinning.  _

 

Well, the room didn't care. Like out of spite the spinning started getting faster again.

 

Loki groaned and pressed his palms on his eyes. A tingling sensation spread through his body. Like tiny little sparks exploding all over his skin. He became itchy. And the spinning just didn't stop, turning slowly into some sort wavering. 

 

_ I think I emptied my stomach quite enough for today. For the norns sake, this is a space ship not one that floats on water.  _

 

Suddenly a strong cold started creeping up his veins. It spread through his entire body. He could slowly feel how his fingers and toes went numb and his limbs felt like they were filled with ice. The ichting sparks turned into little pains like needles stinging everywhere. His Jotun blood was affected. He didn't just accidentally drank half a bottle of Jotun poison, did he? 

 

Loki didn't have a clue and cursed himself for not studying his hidden nature more when he still had access to the big library of Asgard. He pushed away the thought of the burning buildings. Of his home turning into ash. Instead he focused on the the feeling of a freezing cold which was nothing he was used to.  _ Ha, one guess why I never had problems with the cold.  _

 

Maybe it would be a good idea to swallow his pride and get some help right now. But he wouldn't ask Thor. He couldn't even stand the thought of Thor looking at him with pity on his face. Of course it wasn't because it bothered him being the one in need of help and not Thor, who was already stronger and healthier and… 

 

He thought about sending an illusion to the healers but his Seidr didn't respond to him. So instead he tried to get up and out of bed, standing, smiling, but he only managed one step before the spinning became too much and everything turned sideways. He felt his body hitting floor (again) and the last thing he noticed before his consciousness faded away was a familiar electric blue glow enveloping him. 

 

……… 

 

They stood before the massive wall of ice that had grown far enough from Thor’s room to make it impossible to move past it through the narrow hallway. It was still getting bigger and pulsing with sparkles and light. 

 

“What is this?”, asked Thor. 

 

“I guess that's your brother having troubles with his magic because of a drink I forgot in your room”, explained Valkyrie. 

  
  


“Loki didn't have trouble with controlling his magic since he was a toddler”, Thor said slowly, remembering an incident that had lead to both of them being forbidden near the kitchens for over ten years. 

 

“Did you miss the part where I said, because of a drink I forgot in your room?”, Brunnhilde asked. 

 

“How can have some alcoholic drink have this much of an impact on him?” Thor was confused. He'd seen Loki drinking. He would never admit it, but between both of them his little brother could handle a lot of more booze. People usually didn't believe it anyways, same with the fact that Loki could eat twice as much as Thor, too. 

 

The Valkyrie sighed. “It is not just some alcoholic drink, it is a legit dangerous drug. Some gladiators used it to be able to go beyond their limits. It's pushing you up a lot, never without side effects, though. But” she gestured at the ice wall “I have never seen something like this.” 

 

Thor carefully tried to touch the ice but a strong hand wrapped around his wrist and stopped him. "Yeah, wouldn't do that, it tried to punch holes into me before", Brunnhilde said. 

 

"Also, never thought your brother would have such an affinity to ice magic, I thought illusions were more of his thing", she added while softly pushing Thor away from the frozen walls further. 

 

"I didn't know either. Maybe it's because he is Jotun?", Thor wondered and immediately regretted speaking that out loud. He loved Loki all the same despite him being a frost giant but it just felt out of place for him to mention. It was Loki who should decide whether or not to talk about his heritage. 

 

"Wha- Wait, what? Lackey is Jotun? How- Okay, Odin always did weird things, but adopting a Jotun, after dragging their reputation into the dirt for centuries and then starting a war with them…" 

 

She stopped herself from rambling by shaking her head. "I doesn't matter, but Jotuns can't drink flerken berry juice!" 

 

"And that was what he did…?", Thor asked. "That’s what was in the bottle you left behind, I assume?" 

 

Brunnhilde groaned. "Yes, mixed with highly concentrated alcohol, I mean, that's the real stuff, it makes Asgardian mead look like limonade! It weakens their magical defense mechanisms and makes their seidr lash out as if their life is threatened…" 

 

“And he was already injured on top of th-” Thors sentence was rudely interrupted by the ship suddenly tilting to an extreme angle. The thunderer crashed into the wall of the hallway, followed by the Valkyrie.

 

“Who by the Norn’s beard is flying this s- ah, okay, Bruce is flying the ship”, she mumbled into Thor’s cape.

 

“Okay, listen Sparkles, you try to fix this”, she pointed at the ice “and I will stop your friend from killing us all.” With that she left.

 

Thor looked after her for some minutes not moving. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t know anything about Seidr! Well, no, that was untrue, he actually knew the basics he needed to understand how his own powers worked. But this was different!

 

Or… was it? The lightning streaming through his body, his veins, his  _ soul  _ were an important part of his very being, his nature. And that’s what Loki described his Seidr like, too, wasn’t it?

 

_ Well, that doesn’t mean, I know what I am supposed to do now! _

 

He sighed when the ship suddenly changed its angle violently again and he was being tossed backwards until his body hit something cold. The ice wall.

 

Before he could react he felt cold spikes wreathing around his arms and body much faster and more flexible than it should be possible for solid ice. Thor tried to break free, but it was no use. The cold slowly enveloped his feet and legs. And everytime he was able to free a limb the ice just seemed to grow faster.

 

He felt himself shivering. “L-Loki! Listen to me! Stop this!”, he shouted when the ice already had reached his neck but nothing changed and everything was cold, he was literally freezing and why couldn’t Loki hear him, was he -

 

Thor stopped his thought. He needed to focus. He only could think of one way to free himself from the ice that seemed to love the idea of encasing him completely.

 

“I’m sorry, if this hurts you, brother”, he thought, before he send a wave of electricity through the massive ice.

…

 

Meanwhile, a humanoid figure stood on a big field filled with sunflowers. You wouldn’t have noticed it, for it looked almost exactly like the plants surrounding it but in contrast to them eight spider like big dark eyes were placed between the seeds. It silently watched the green shimmering sky, well, maybe not the sky itself but the impressive and big (and outdated) spaceship making weird maneuvers while seemingly trying to land on their planet.

 

A similar being appeared next to it. It was smaller and took something you could describe as a hand formed out of leaves of the other into its own. “What is going on?”, asked it.

 

“I think we will get even more visitors soon…”, the bigger one explained. “But these… actually seem to be rather stupid.”

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry this took so long. Most probably thought I have abandoned this, am I right?   
> But I haven't. I just have started too many different projects at once, haha, story of my life.


End file.
